Sticking to the Script
by Tusk Act IV
Summary: After all their battles were over, Jaune and Ruby had a good life. Sure, it wasn't perfect but they were happily married, most of their friends were still alive and the house's mortgage was finally fully paid for. So of course Ozpin had to show up with a god damn time machine.
**Disclaimer: I own neither the series nor the characters**

* * *

He had done it.

He had finally done it.

After staying in isolation and imprisonment for years, escaping with nothing but the clothes on his back, travelling through unknown territory and land, and creating many new allies and enemies, he had finally done it.

All that mattered now was this final step.

He raised his arm, the limb shaking from both exhaustion and excitement, and he pushed the button.

The door in front of him made muffled sounds, like that of a beast standing behind a closed door.

Footsteps softly thumped then the door opened.

A blonde girl with twintails and silver eyes stared curiously at him from behind the door There's wonder, curiosity, and disgust in those metal pools.

She turned around for a second and yelled, "Mom, there's some sort of bum here. Should I kick him out?"

A voice replied to her, one that was familiar yet so different. "A bum? Let me just-"

Ruby Rose stopped in her track, a deadly broom in hand, when she saw said bum. It was a withered old man with a long beard but it was a familiar old man.

Her silver eyes, like the girls, were wide open with shock.

His was as well considering this wasn't the Ruby Rose he expected. If anything, this was an impossible meeting with Summer. This Ruby was a grown woman.

"H-headmaster Ozpin? Is that really you?"

"It's nice to see you again, Miss Rose."

* * *

"I honestly didn't suspect to see you again, sir."

Jaune Arc passed the old headmaster a cup of coffee which the man accepted. As he sipped, his eyes roamed the house, looking at photographs and other decor.

"Well, I certainly did not expect to see you married to Miss Rose, Mister Arc."

Well, actually Ozpin did. He had planned to win the war with the the combination of Silver eyes with an Arc's near inexhaustible aura supply.

He just didn't expect to have won at the step before hand.

Jaune just bashfully rubbed the back of his head with his left hand, a golden band glinting. The boy's more manly and muscular physique did not escape Ozpin.

"So what do you do now, Mr. Arc?"

"Oh, I teach. Just some small stuff at Signal. Tai got me the job."

"Hmm" Ozpin nodded as he sipped his coffee. It was quite good. "And Miss, excuse me, Mrs. Rose?"

"Well, Ruby does weapons and stuff. You won't believe how many people want a weapon made by the hero of remnant, herself." Jaune smiled, obviously proud of his wife's work. "Of course, those are all nothing compared to her greatest creation, one that I helped in."

"Dad! Don't embarass me!" The girl from earlier just happened to pass by, her face red. She then marched off to somewhere else in the house and called, "I'm going to the workshop!"

"Okay!" Jaune yelled back before turning back to his guest. "Her name's Fate. She sorta takes after me although she has her mother's charm."

Speaking of the mother...

"Sorry, the it took a while." Ruby walked into the living room an apron and a bandanna. "Those things always took so long to cool. Did I miss anything?"

"Not really, just small talk." replied Jaune as she took a seat next to him on the sofa.

A very nice looking pure white sofa. While Ozpin was just given a wooden chair.

It's worth noting that it was also very hard to remove stains from said sofa and the old headmaster looked like he needed to be hosed down first,

Well, now that they were here, it was time to get to the point.

"You both are probably wondering why am I here, or first, where did I come from?" To that both nodded. "Well, this whole time I was trapped under Beacon, in the same room I battled Cinder Fall."

"Um, sir." Ruby gave him a questioning look. "You mean to tell me all this time, you were just in Beacon?"

"Why yes. Cinder had flown off and, for some reason, the elevator, the only way in and out of the room, couldn't be accessed to. Even my office, which contained all my notes on what to do, couldn't be accessed to. I subsisted on a diet of rats and water that dripped down from the ceiling."

This was all said without missing a beat and said in the same tone one would use for the weather. When he was done, Ozpin just mearly sipped more coffee.

"But Sir," Jaune began and at his back, he had already started to dial for emergency hotlines. "What about your cane?"

"Why, yes now that you mention it, my cane did disappear for some time."

In all actuality, Qrow had flown down, saw the cane which Ozpin had left near the elevator entrance as he took a bathroom break, and flown back up immediately, assuming the worst.

"So, uh, sir, can you tell us why you're here." Ruby looked into Ozpin's eyes, worry, anxiety and maybe a spark of excitement in her own. "I thought we had defeated everyone. Is there a new threat you need squashed?"

"No, I do not bring any news of threat." replied Ozpin much to Jaune's relief and Ruby's disappointment. "What I bring is an opportunity."

He reached into his dirty coat's pocket to bring out what looked like an orb. No, it really was a plain blue orb with a single red button on it.

"This here is what I worked on and put all my effort into all those years I was by myself. This is a time orb. It allows all those affected to get sent back into the past with their memories."

Ozpin regarded the two. He knew these two were the best option he had in redoing the past.

"Using your knowledge of the future, I want both of you to go back and make a better future. Can I rely on you for this?"

"No thanks."

"Good. Now the first thing is-wait. What?"

Jaune's face was apologetic while Ruby just shrugged.

"Well, sir, with all due respect, we're pretty happy where we are now." Jaune explained. "I mean, sure, we may be able to do better but the war was hard and we did pretty well."

"Yeah. I almost died. Like a lot." Ruby followed up. "Also, I don't want to go through labor again.

"B-but," Ozpin sputtered. "You could prevent a lot of deaths and destruction! You could save a lot of people."

"Yeah. But my therapist said it was best to accept them and use them to help you grow. You can't change the past." Jaune countered.

"But you can! Right here! With just the press of a button."

"But we already won! Sure it wasn't a perfect victory but what is? Also, we just finished paying for the house and Fate's going of to Signal which means we could go on a much needed vacation to Vacuo soon."

"I.."

"Wait," Jaune turned to Ruby as Ozpin could only gape at them. "I thought we were going to Mistral?"

"Jaune! I told you I wanted to visit Vacuo. See what Blake's been up to. Don't tell me you bought the wrong tickets..."

"I think I heard you say Mistral, Rubes. Blake doesn't even stay in Vacuo anymore anyways. Sun lived in Mistral so I thought-"

"Wait!" Ozpin's sudden interruption made the bickering couple's heads turn. "So you're telling me, after all my hard work, at the chance of saving numerous lives and stopping evil, you'd rather not because of a vacation?!"

"To be honest, headmaster, it's been years since the war. Almost two decades. Some of my memories of it is even foggy at best."

"What Jaune said," agreed Ruby. "It's also a really nice package. Vacuo has the loveliest weapon exhibits at this time of year. Would be nice if only someone booked the tickets correctly."

"Really? You're going to go there? Fine, I'll buy new tickets."

"Well, if you already bought the tickets then I guess we could visit the Nikos'. Again. And maybe Ren and Nora as well. Again."

"Ruby, you know how I feel when you use that tone."

"I'm just saying-"

"Alright!" Ozpin suddenly stood up. "While I am disappointed, if you both would not want to do this then I will take my leave."

He made his way to the doorway and the married pair could only watch. However, he stopped halfway to the door.

"One last thing." Ozpin turned to Ruby. "Miss Rose?"

"Sir?"

"Catch." At that moment, Ozpin suddenly tossed the ball to Ruby who instinctively opened her palms to catch it.

"Wait, Ruby!" Noticing the trick, Jaune moved to block it but it was too late.

Ozpin had tossed the time orb such that the button was at the bottom. Perfectly parallel with Ruby's flat palms.

There was then a bright flash as the machine activated and the world turned white.

* * *

When the flash of light was over, Jaune opened his eyes to see his daughter below him. Around him, students were walking past. For some reason, he was leaning down and offering his hand to help Fate up.

"Fate?" No, her hair was too short. Wait, this was-

"Ruby?"

"Jaune?" Ruby asked. She wasn't sure as this wasn't the Jaune she knew. He hadn't worn his old armor since that one time they got drunk when they both had been cleaning out their basement. Also, it used to be snug but now it was loosely hanging off him.

Two pairs of eyes widened, one blue and the other silver as realizations came crashing into them. Of course, the rush of hormones helped them pick their next action.

Nearby, thinking it was a new craze, one Nora Valkyrie started yelling as well much to her companion's grievance.

Eventually, the terminally misplaced couple left for a spot they held dear, a tree close to the statue where no one could see or hear you talk...or make out.

Unfortunately, people finding them making out was the least of their concerns.

They had checked their scrolls. The date was definitely the first day of their first year in Beacon. Their much younger bodies only served as proof.

"What are we going to do?" wailed Ruby squatting, her hands clutching her head, as if doing so would make the pulsing migraine go away.

"I don't know." Jaune, himself, preferred leaning against the tree. "Maybe there's a way to go back...forward? to our time period?"

"It's gone...it's all gone." Ruby moved to Jaune who just hugged the now young huntress as she wailed into his chest. "Our achievements, everything we did in the war, Fate."

The knight hugged her even tighter as he too felt the anguish of having everything he had worked for and cared for disappear in a flash.

After what felt like an eternity of sobbing and hugging, Ruby separated from him with a resolute look on her face. The same kind of look she had whenever they visited his family.

"W-well, if we're going to do this all again, we'd better do it right!" proclaimed Ruby as she pumped her fists.

Jaune couldn't help but smile and feel his anxiety wash away. Now, this was the Ruby Rose he had married.

No matter what a problem, whether a giant Grimm or her daughter acting out, she was always ready to take it on.

Wait.

"Hey, Ruby. When you mean "right" do you mean just like how we did it or will we do things better?" asked the blonde which made the girl stop to think as well.

"Well," Ruby tapped her lip with a finger. "I guess, we could do things better?"

"But if we base it on how most time travel movies we've watched, wouldn't changing too much cause unpredictable stuff to happen?" argued Jaune, a bit genre savvy.

"True," agreed Ruby. "And we do want Fate to be born, so we don't want to change our timeline too much."

"So, you do want to change some stuff?"

"Why not?" shrugged the girl. "Ooh! We can finally get that one apartment before that one couple did! Or actually get Fate into that one great preschool!"

"I thought you liked Learning Tikes?"

"I just think Lantern would have been better, that's all." Of course, she didn't mention how Learning Tikes was full of single moms that hated her and always flirted with Jaune.

"Wait," Jaune held up a hand. "when I meant change stuff I meant...you know..."

Ruby honestly didn't but then it hit her and her eyes widened in epiphany.

"Jaune! Jaune! We could finally get that vase! You know that beautiful one we had to give to Weiss!" Ruby excitedly jumped up and down in front of her future husband.

"Wait, Ruby, stop." He put both hands on her shoulders to settle er down. "I meant, you know, the stuff related to the war."

Ruby stopped and thought long and hard about it. If she wanted some things changed like the outcome of her no doubt numerous epic battles, now was the time.

She could...wait...but what about...um...did she even fight Salem?

"For some reason, I can't remember anything about the war. Just some stuff after it." Ruby tried to think of the the edges of her memory. "Stuff after you picked me up at Patch."

"Same here. Was that after the fall of Beacon or that time Tai caught us?" Jaune felt scars that hadn't been formed yet twitch

"After the Fall. Everything after that is a pretty spotty. I can't remember a lot of stuff, just random ones."

"Maybe, it's just the way the machine worked and we still don't have all our memories?" offered Jaune as an explanation to which Ruby nodded and accepted.

"Or maybe it's just that the author at this point doesn't know what happened?" It's also a possibility the actual writers don't as well,you know.

"Well, whatever the case, let's just hope they come back soon at least." Jaune rubbed the back of his head, a bit worried on how they both had holes in their memories.

He tried to recall some battles he must have had. Maybe some with Cinder or something? Yet not one could he recall.

"My Baby!" Suddenly, Ruby cried out in horror. In her hands was Crescent Rose...well, it's original form anyways. "Nononono...it's all gone."

She pulled out the weapon and started flicking and moving it around. "C'mon, Bazooka form! Dual sabers! Energy Scythe! At least the Particle canon!"

The weapon was then tossed into the air to turn into, what Jaune assumed, it's glider form, only to have it just fall back down and hit her head.

"Owie! I don't even remember how I fought without the Zweihandler form," complained Ruby as she rubbed her head.

"Huh, this is nostalgic." Jaune brought out ol' faithful or the Crocea Mors set. The sword and shield were as plain as they came.

He took did a few experimental swings and was thankful to note that, while it did make his muscles ache, he didn't seem to have forgotten any of his training.

"No!" Pulling herself out of her own weapon related problems, a strangled gasp was released from Ruby as she saw the weapons. "They're lame again!"

"Well, I wouldn't call it lame..."

"Lame again!" It had taken her months to convince Jaune and his family to let her upgrade their family heirloom.

"It's not that bad, Ruby."

"Jaune!" Ruby marched right up into his face. "That was a symbol of our love and marriage. We can't even do our special lovey dovey combo!"

Also, adding her own crest to the front of his shield helped ward off some annoying students that did not know their place.

"That's it! We are making new memories right here. Right now." growled Ruby as she started to undo Jaune's armor. She was stressed and right now there was one thing she knew that could take her mind of things.

Sure, it wouldn't be as great as a memory of snuggling for the first time on the dead hide of a dragon Grimm after a near life and death situation, their love fueled by adrenaline and a ton of lost blood. but, gosh darn it, did Ruby need the stress relief.

She was just about done with the chest plate when she felt both of her wrists were grabbed and held above her-"Ooh, Kinky-wait, aw no."-which were then lowered down to her waist.

"We can't, Ruby." Jaune was giving her a look which he used when he wanted to tell her stuff like "Not tonight, sweety.", or "Strawberries are NOT meant to be put up there" or "I'm not going to wear that dress anymore."

Well, two could play that game.

"C'mon, Jaune. Unlike Valentine's, this time we don't have to pretend to be teenagers." Ruby then returned to him her own look which she used when she wanted to tell him things like "Yes, tonight. Just bite the pillow." and "It's either the strawberries or this enema filled with cookie dough" or "Just put the frikkin dress on."

"I just can't, Rubes. I mean, look at yourself. You're as old as one of my students."

Ruby did and winced. Her Ruboobies were like Weiss' after a boob job. Her Rubooty was not the toned bubbly peach it should have been, sorta like Weiss' after a buttjob.

Even in the future, Weiss was still Weiss.

"But I'm your wife!"

"You're also a minor." Jaune looked to the side, grief and pain evident on his face. "We'll have to...wait."

Ruby's face went ashen. Three years? Three years of nothing? It was like all of those talks she volunteered to give on proper waiting to Jaune's students had come back and bite her cute underage butt.

"Not even in the hiney?"

"Nope?"

"What about just our mouths?"

"That's up for debate but I don't think so."

"What we did in our last vacation?"

"I'm pretty sure that's still illegal."

"That freaky thing you did with my arms and your shoulders?"

Jaune paused. "Maybe. But we'll have to wait. We don't want to change too many things."

"But where will we even find a Grimm dragon?" Sighing Ruby resigned herself to a nookie-less future.

Well, at least this meant her training him in learning how the body of a young underaged student would never be better than that of a grown up woman.

Of course by training she meant snuggling. Curse her future bodacious bod! It had been too effective.

"Well, we can still make out at least, right?"

"...I guess."

"Great! Then pucker up!" Ruby closed her eyes and moved to capture Jaune's lips. As her own pressed against the warm flesh, Ruby felt like a little girl again.

By that she meant the same one who was always interrupted by Yang as the same surface she had kissed pushed her away, namely Jaune had blocked her with his hand.

"Hey! What gives!" Ruby glared at Jaune who couldn't seem to meet her eyes. There was even a small blush on his cheeks

"Well, I kind of want to keep the memory of my first kiss unchanged." confessed the blonde.

The girl's expression softened, touched.

"Awww, Jaune. That's so sweet." She warmly smiled at her husband and softly held his cheek with one hand.

The memory of both of their first kisses was as magical as Ruby remembered it. Blood, guns, bullets, and explosions as they fell from an impossible height, knowing they were both about to die.

It was a wonderful one that she'll never forget.

"Don't worry Jaune. We could just tell everyone else that happened. Fate still believes in the birthday skeleton, anyways. Now chap those lips."

She moved forward, only to be rejected. Again.

"Ugh. What now Jaune?"

"Well, that's the thing. That...wasn't my first kiss."

" **...who was it?** " asked a single voice that resounded a thousand others.

Cold. That's what he felt. That's what the tree felt. That was what the world felt.

At least her silver eyes still work, Jaune idly thought as he was lifted off the ground.

" **Was it Yang?** "

"No."

" **Blake?** "

"No."

" **It was Weiss, wasn't it?** "

"What? She hated me." It was his second actually. Post Mortem drinking did that.

Ruby gasped, which was like that of air being blown into a suction machine. "I **t was that one faunus chick, wasn't it! She always did pass you notes.** "

It's worth mentioning that it was said chick's job to hand out flyers.

Now, most people would be frightened, but not Jaune Arc. Not because he was brave, or that he had faced worse, or that it was possible he was running out of enough oxygen to think about it.

It was because Jaune Arc was Ruby Rose's husband. Which was why he simply looked her in the glowy eyes and told Ruby,

"It was Pyrrha."

Immediately, the pressure and cold is gone and he's back on his feet.

"...oh." There's an expression on Ruby's face that doesn't belong on a fifteen year old's. Maybe she's smiling, maybe she's not. Her eyes hold only ripples of a silver moon. "Do...do you want to save her?"

"Yes." No hesitation or pause. Just a pure answer.

There's a sigh of some sort. Relief? Disappointment? Exhaustion? Honestly, it did not matter.

Because in the end, Ruby Rose was Jaune Arc's wife which was why she just simply held his hand and squeezed, trusting him.

"Okay."

The both stood there in front of that one tree. Hands low but held. Eyes tired but smiling. They exchange a look, a promise, a vow.

In the end, there is still one memory both are sure never to forget.

And, yeah, it probably was stupid to get married in Beacon, anyways.

"So what are out first plans for the day, Miss Rose?"

"Well, Mister Arc, I was planning on getting a new boyfriend anyways."

"I believe you maybe too young for those kinds of relationships though."

"What! That's absurd! I meant boy space friend."

"Then allow me to be your boy friend space."

"Why, thank you."

"...Jaune."

"Yeah, Rubes?"

"Do we really need to save Pyrrha?"

"Yes."

"Fine, but she should know I already had dibs."

"I think she called it much earlier."

"Then I now call for double dibs."

They both turned to the school. Beacon, the old Beacon, was still as nostalgic as ever. It had been the starting point of their journey and now was in front of them again once more.

Jaune turned to Ruby and held out his hand.

"First things, first though. We should at least tell Ozpin to put a lock on that one door. And maybe make a stairway while he's at it."

"That's before or after I punch him for getting us into this mess?"

"After."

"You're too good for me, Jaune."

Ruby then took his hand and led him to the familiar path to the inside of Beacon, confident that things may turn out okay.

They already did it once. How hard could it be the second time?

* * *

 **AN: I honestly didn't like how this turned out but I needed this finished so I could write new stuff.**

 **That aside, the premise is the summary. I mean you got all these timetravel fixfics out there but why not have a story where they don't want to change the future or at least try to not change things too much.**

 **Also, I think my writing fire is burning out. Or I'm just getting lazier. I normally finish things in two days. This took three slow nights.**

 **The original premise was Fate would go back in her mom's body and try to redo everything like her mom did but that'd be too creepy.**

 **Then I thought it's be cool to have only married Ruby go back. So when/if Jaune died in the show proper, it'd be revealed that she made up all of those memories. But that was way too dark.**

 **And I'm not really fond of writing dark stories.**


End file.
